[...concrete jungle were dreams are made...]

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Welcome back !!

here we go !! 3 months later, here i am, telling you all again about my latest adventures on the other side of the planet...after "Audrey in New Zealand", you can now enjoy "Audrey in the United States" 

i landed in New York City on monday evening after an uneventful journey, except for the fact that right when we were about to take off in London Heathrow, the captain announced us that one of the engine wasn't working and that we'd have to cross the Atlantic used the emergency engine -how reassuring !- after having it double-checked by a mechanic. which means we had to wait in our seats for two hours, without even the use of our entertainment screens. boring.


not that it went much better afterwards.
i'm not complaining, i mean i didn't even pay for the plane ticket, so whatever, but i have to say that i was really desappointed by American Airline. 12 hours went so fast with Singaour Airline and Air New Zealand, whereas here with the very small choice of films and my screen constantly switching from colours to black and white, the seven-hours flight seemed like it would never end.






which explains that i was super happy to finally land in New York. i had met in Paris 8 other french girls from the agency and i had kind of become the leader of our little group, since most of them had never traveled alone, barely spoke english and were kind of lost/nervous.
The AuPair agency had given us vouchers for a shuttle to i went to the transportation desk and organized a shuttle to the city for the 9 of us. the driver stacked all of our suitcases in his trunk, and off we go, towards the Big Apple.

on our way, many roads, cars dashing about, roadsigns, some names sounding familier, others completely new, and all of a sudden, the view on the CBD, the lights of Manhattan shining bright into the night...

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

the driver dropped us then to our hostel.
i swear it's not a joke, we stayed at the WMCA...
which means of course that i had the song playing on repeat in my head during the 4 days that took the training
how about giving it a listen, just for fun ?!

"I said, young man, when you're short on your dough.
You can stay there, and I'm sure you will find
Many ways to have a good time.

It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A."

well, the "when you're short on your dough" part is true.
most of the showers (communal) were broken which means we had to wait in line for like half an hour in the mornings to get to a shower. the furniture was old and battered. the wifi didn't work. our classroom (10 hours of class per day) was in the basement, which means no window and artificial lights all day long.
everybody was complaining, but i could not care less
i was in New York

and as you can see, the location was ideal...







i threw my bag on my bed, yelled a "see you later" to the girl who shared y room and had apparently decided that 9pm was an ok time to go to bed when you are 20-something and have just arrived in the greatest city in the world, grabbed a map in the lobby on my way out, and went for a walk



and of course i naturally found myself in....Times Square !
now, i had come before during a schooltrip when i was fifteen, but i still was impressed at how crazy it is. the streets were full of people talking in a dozen different languages, billboards were flashing, so much that it was as bright as day-light, and shops were packed...


life was gushing out of every centimeter square of this city...

...and there i was, standing here with tears in my eyes....